Griefs, Loss, and Connection
by Imaginativegoody2shoes
Summary: But that one dream was not the only one that haunted her mind. No, not at all. The one, and most, dream that haunted her so badly was of Steve...


Griefs, loss, and connection

**Disclaimer: Characters all belong to Capcom. I own none of them or the events that happened in the game. All characters and things belong to Capcom themselves. NOT** **ME!**

A/N: Yay my first Resident Evil one-shot! Eh, I've been lacking off my Resident Evil lately. I haven't been playing the games, or watching the movies. And I already read like one novel so... yeah I need to get back on track. This takes place in right after the Code Veronica game. Uhm, me and my mom haven't finished the game yet (nor have I read the novel of it) so idk what happened at the end. All I did was research a bit and found (don't fail me Wikipedia!) What happened at the end, so hopefully I got the events right :/. Some bad words but I tried to make sure they weren't to vulgar bc Imaginativegoody2shoes does not roll like that. No I do not. Okay I'll let you get to reading.

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She remembered the rotting smell of putrid meat going up her nostrils as she walked cautiously down the hallways at the STARS police station in Raccoon city. The oozing of clear and dark black red liquid streaming down their arms as they stiffly moved towards her. Their cried moans of hunger to feed upon the flesh of a human echoed all around her. Their cold, dead, withered fingers coming towards her. And sometimes, if they were lucky, their slender ash color fingers would grasp around her like a vine on a metal railing and try to rip at her neck. She remembered their Crystal clear white eyes burning and searching through her own blue eyes and all the thick blood running out of their crooked mouths announcing that they had just eaten a freshly human. She had been lucky that she had not become of them. Real damn lucky.

Claire let out a sudden shiver as the memories of the dead restored into her mind. She felt suddenly cold, but only it was not cold out. In fact it was hot and humid. But the grown woman still felt an icy chill run down her spine no matter how warm it was.

No matter how hard she tried to forget, the memory would never stay away from her. It was always haunting her in her awakening dreams. Each day she would find herself gasping for breath as the recurring dream of the incident in Raccoon city hit her mind causing her shoot open her eyes and sit up straight and find herself not being able to go back to sleep.

But that one dream was not the only one that haunted her mind. No, not at all. The one, and most, dream that haunted her so badly was of Steve. Claire heaved a heavy sigh as she sunk her chin into her chest, feeling the tears of grieve settle into her eyes once more.

Steve. A young boy who had stuck by her side, despite him leaving her a couple of times. She missed him, she really did. Even if he did act like an ass and piss her off at times, she still couldn't forget him. Nor did she want to forget him. They been too close, even if they had just knew each other for one day.

One night to _be_ exact.

His death was the one thing that had mentally scarred her the worst than the incident in Raccoon City. She remembered the tentacle puncturing through the boy's chest. She remembered him turning back into his usual human form and her coming to his rescue to try to stop the bleeding and keep him alive for as long as she could. Even as of that moment, she could still feel Steve's' gushing blood running down her arms and fingers like an ocean of blood rushing at her. She could remember his last breath he took that was warm against her ear to listen what he had to tell her and felt the same sharp kick in the heart as the words echoed in her mind: " I love you..."

The words were like a mental slap for her. It was unexpected and it had really caught her off guard and made her all the more guilty for his death. He loved her. And although Claire was a bit confused on what he meant, she knew that he didn't mean it in the brother and sister way...

Claire groaned and placed her hands over her face trying her very hardest not to cry out the pain that laid on her heart.

This all happened just because of some scientists that had messed with the damn virus when they knew they shouldn't have been in the first place. All this happened because of Wesker, who was a major Jackass to her now that she knew what he had done. All of this just because she had wanted to come and find her older brother, Chris.

She didn't know who she should be mad at that point.

Should she be mad at her brother for not letting her know if he was alright? Wesker for becoming psycho on everyone and betraying her brother? Or herself for not staying at her college and waiting for her friend to come back from her date with her biker boyfriend?

She didn't know, but all she knew was that she wanted to slap someone... and that was not including herself.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Claire had barely kept in a startle and jumped as she whipped up her head.  
Leon stood there staring down at the woman with the same hard stare he gave everyone, despite the compassionate look that settled into his eyes. She couldn't, but notice the way his face had lightened up just a bit when he saw her with just a small concern in his brow. Claire frowned at him. "Does I feel like someone just- grabbed- my- heart- and- stomped- on- it sound like I'm okay?" she asked monotoned. "Probably not," the man responded giving off a small shrug. He paused for a moment. "Mind if I sit with you?"

Claire scooted over to give Leon enough room to sit before patting the cemented porch. "This seats not taken," she said with slight amusement smiling up at him trying to hide the pain from him. Leon seemed to grin softly at this before sitting down next to his friend knees propped up in the process. He stared at the young Redfield who only stared at the ground almost as if ashamed about something.

The moment he looked at her, Leon could tell exactly what was wrong with the red-head. He could read her like an open book. All he had to do was stare into her blue eyes and within a snap he could understand all the fears that she tried hiding beneath her skin. "Are you still thinking about that kid?" He asked sighing softly almost in sympathy. Claire nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, a little," she replied softly chewing her bottom lip trying to keep herself from crying. She didn't want him to think she was just some weakling who broke down on everyone.

Leon nodded at this and took a moment of silence. "You do know that it's not your fault right?" He asked gingerly in a low voice. Claire sighed irritatingly. "I know," she growled. "Everyone keeps telling me that."

"Because it's true."

"It wasn't enough."

Leon stared the woman for a long time. He knew how guilty she felt for Steve's death. She had told him all the events that happened to her and by the time she got to Steve, her voice trembled and shook and he knew that she had felt a terrible dread of him dying on her. But he knew it in his heart that it wasn't her fault at all like she seems to think. But he couldn't exactly blame her. He knew what it felt like to see someone die right before your eyes in bitter-sweet.

"At least you tried," he inclined. Claire only shook her head at this. "I didn't try hard enough," she mumbled. Leon found himself starting to get slightly agitated but didn't let that show. "C'mon Claire, you know it's not your fault," he told her leaning slightly towards her making her turn her head away from him. "You're just depressed right now."

"Yeah well you should know exactly how I feel," she snapped glaring at him with cold dead eyes. Leon just held her gaze no matter what. "Yeah... I do," he muttered. Claire continued to stare at him blankly before tearing her gaze away and looked off to her left.

Leon stared at the Redfield for a long time before reaching over with his hand grasping her hand into his and gave it a small squeeze. Claire's cheeks turned pink at this as a sudden thrill ran through her and slowly she turned her head to find her eyes burning into his.

She suddenly felt close to him. She felt as if she were connected to him some how. Like as if she could tell him anything. She had felt the same for Steve, but it was much different with Steve. It was more like a brother and sister connection.

With Leon... it felt different for her for a reason.

"I'm really glad you're still alive," he told her softly in gratefulness. "I was getting really worried about you."

Claire stared up at him slight shock her body tightening before giving out a small grin at him and let her body relax. "I'm glad about it too," she muttered almost chuckling. Leon smiled just a bit more at her.

They both continued to stare at each other before Claire set her head against shoulder and one arm wrapped around his torso. Leon was taken aback by this before placing a warm arm around her shoulders and placing his cheek a top her red hair taking in her scent. Claire slowly closed her eyes, feeling comfortable and at peace with the situation, and with her hand gently gripped his shirt. "Leon," she muttered in a whisper. "Hmm?" He hummed.

"When do you know all this virus crap will end?" She asked in a bitter whisper. Leon took a deep breath making his chest rise up and then down. "I don't know," he replied making Claire grip his shirt tighter. "But I believe that together we can fight the virus till the end..."

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A/N: Ew, I don't like the ending but I guess thats what happens when you have a writers block for almost a month. Yeah so this is it. I hope they sound like themselves and I hope I got the events right :/. I seriously have got to start watching and playing RE again. I'm starting to lack on it omg. And if there are any mistakes don't worry I'll go back and fix them. Good night everyone! Read & Review please? (Be nice tho. this is my first.)


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